• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, March 28, 2023

Frontier Communications is launching a bundle that allows customers to integrate YouTube TV into Frontier’s monthly billing for its fiber optic-based internet service.

Frontier already had a partnership with YouTube TV, and also offers DirecTV Stream and Dish Network satellite as video options.

But with integrated billing, the telecom is making YouTube TV its primary video offering, hoping that the bundle will attract and retain more high-margin internet subscribers.

The idea is to make it easier for customers to “ditch cable,” said John Harrobin, executive vice president of consumer, which calls itself the “un-cable provider.”

Many consumers want one source for internet and TV, “and that’s what this partnership is all about,” he said.

Frontier is also offering promotional incentives for the bundle.

Frontier internet customers who are new to YouTube TV will get a $10-per-month discount on the virtual multiplatform video programming distributor (vMVPD) for the first 12 months, and Frontier TV subscribers new to YouTube TV will get $15 off per month on the streamer’s just-hiked $72.99 price.

YouTube TV offers more than 100 channels, including local and national live sports; unlimited DVR; and six individual accounts for the home streaming on up to three devices simultaneously.

YouTube TV has also just clinched a $14-billion, seven-year deal to be the exclusive distributor for the NFL Sunday Ticket.

In Q4 2022, Frontier added a record 76,000 fiber broadband customers, for a total of 1.7 million. With combined business and consumer, the telco has 2.8 million broadband subscribers.

The company is still building out its fiber network, with a target of 10 million locations by the end of 2025. It launched a 5G broadband plan earlier this year.